Historic U.M.C. Decision to Become a More Intentionally Inclusive Church

 “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)

As many of you already know, yesterday (May 1) our United Methodist Church’s General Conference (the top decision-making body of our denomination) overwhelmingly passed a historic vote to remove the 40-year old ban in our Book of Discipline prohibiting the ordination of “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals”, and to allow clergy the right to perform same-sex weddings if desired (read the full news HERE).  And on May 2 it also adopted a revised set of Social Principles that eliminate harmful language related to the LGBTQ community, such as the phrase “the practice of homosexuality… is incompatible with Christian teaching” (read that article HERE).

While these decisions are not really a surprise, it does represent a significant shift in the way we do our church business.  Now, individual persons, local churches, and Conference Boards of Ordained Ministry throughout our denomination have the authority to allow the Holy Spirit to help them determine for themselves the readiness of all clergy for ordination, and of all couples for marriage, regardless of their sexual identity. This is a decision, I should note, that is similar to a vote in the 1920s to allow divorced persons in our denomination to become clergy, and a similar vote in 1956 to allow women to become fully ordained clergy. 

While I recognize that not all will agree with these decisions, I, for one, celebrate these changes, and believe it will enable us to truly become a more inclusive church and denomination than we’ve been in our past.

                              Several Clarifications

Still, there are several things I think are important to clarify about these decisions:

(1) These decisions do NOT mean that the U.M.C. now officially endorses the practice of homosexuality.  To the contrary:  rather than prohibiting it outright (as before), it now neither prohibits nor endorses either gay ordination or same-sex marriages. Instead, we now officially recognize that Christians of deep faith and conviction interpret scripture differently regarding this subject. Some of our members (including some of you) still hold more "traditional/conservative" views on these subjects, while others (including others of you) hold more "progressive/liberal" views on these, while still others (including others of you) hold to a more middle-ground/"centrist" view.   And that is okay.  We can be a church that welcomes all of these views.  But regardless of where we find ourselves personally, this change recognizes that as Christians of God's grace, we can afford to “think and let think” about this and other non-essential subjects, since it is not at the heart of our faith or doctrine. 

(2) To my point above, these changes do not in any way alter any part of our Book of Discipline referencing essential Christian beliefs or doctrines (what are called our “Doctrinal Standards and Theological Task”, which include our “Articles of Religion,” all of which are the backbone of our belief and doctrine – read these HERE.) Again, since these subjects fall under parts of our beliefs which are not fundamental to our belief or doctrine, United Methodist Christians are allowed to think, believe, interpret scripture, and practice faith differently about this subject (and many others) as long as they hold to the essential orthodox teachings found in these Doctrinal Standards and Articles of Religion.  As one who -- for the past eight years -- has been a member of our own North Georgia Conference’s “Board of Ordained Ministry”, I can attest that these essential standards and doctrines are what our ordination interviews and process are focused on when we interview potential clergy for ordination.  This change now means that our Conference Boards of Ordained Ministry (such as ours in North Georgia) will no longer need to consider a person’s sexual identity (by itself) to be a prohibiting factor in their ordination – if they are orthodox in their beliefs and practices, and they otherwise pass the interview process, then they will be eligible to be ordained in our tradition.

(3) As anticipated, the secular press only reported the sensational part of these stories, rather than their fullness, potentially leaving readers with only a partially true version of what was decided (read the USAToday version HERE and the FoxNews version HERE).  I find it fascinating that these failed to report the passing of legislation which explicitly protects the right of clergy and churches not to officiate at or host same-sex weddings if they do not wish to, and that our supervisor (what we call our District Superintendents and Bishops) can not penalize clergy or churches for holding — or refraining from holding — same-sex weddings.  These are important pieces of this decision, because (as mentioned above) it further decentralizes the authority over this subject and gives individual laity, clergy, churches, and Conferences the authority to decide for themselves the readiness of a person for marriage and/or ordination (rather than being mandated “from above”).  As our own Bishop Robin Dease put it in her response to these votes, “Local churches can continue to serve and operate the way they have always done. There is no move to force the local church or clergy to do anything they are not prepared or willing to do” (Read her full response HERE).  The lack of this information in the secular news articles I believe gives a slanted view of the decisions and can potentially cause harm by enticing readers to conclude that these decisions were more radical than they actually was (yes, they were historic, but not radical!)

(4) Finally, three additional sets of legislation were also passed that rarely got reported in the secular press, either:

(a) One is the fact that the disaffiliation clause (Paragraph 2553 from the 2019 Book of Discipline that allows for local churches to leave -- or “disaffiliate” -- from our denomination) was deleted from this year’s Discipline.  This means that churches are no longer allowed to disaffiliate under this policy -- the rationale being that the time for misinformation, division, hurt, and distraction from the cause of Christ caused by this provision is over; and the time for healing and once again focusing on the work and call of Jesus in the world is now.   

(b) In its place is a new policy describing how churches may RE-affiliate with the U.M.C. who had previously left because the denomination was too restrictive and non-inclusive in its practice.

(c) Also adopted is a series of policies that decentralizes our whole denomination into world regions (aka the “Regionalization Plan”). Under this, assuming 2/3 of our Conferences ratify this change at their meetings this summer, each U.M.C. region throughout the world (i.e., North America, Africa, Europe, Asia, etc.) will have the authority to set its own guidelines and laws regarding non-doctrinal subjects (such as same-sex weddings and ordination), while at the same time being united under our common Doctrinal Standards and Articles of Religion. This legislation, in effect, recognizes and protects world United Methodism from being centrally controlled or dictated to from the United States, with each region now allowed to set its own guidelines regarding things not central to our doctrine.

Read more about all three of these decisions HERE .

Where Does That Leave Us?

Again, I recognize that we have church members (perhaps some/many of you reading this) and also local churches who still hold more traditional views and interpretations of scripture on this subject.  And we also have church members and local churches who are even more progressive on this subject than what General Conference decided.

However, my aim in sharing this news (and, I believe, the aim of the General Conference decisions) is/was NOT to change your mind or say that you are wrong in those views, but merely to encourage, invite, and allow us as a God’s people to be open to being able to “agree to disagree” on subjects like these, while still doing ministry together as a body of Christ.

Yes, these changes are certainly historic, but at the same time I believe they represent a new opportunity for us to be the church that Jesus established 2000 years ago – a church not defined by who is worthy enough to get in or not, but by how we include and invite ALL to a life-changing experience with Jesus.  As such, my goal is to be Pastor to everyone here at Cornerstone U.M.C., regardless of where you find yourself politically or theologically on this (or any other) subject.  Whether you are “traditional/conservative” “progressive/liberal”, “centrist/moderate”, Republican, Democrat, Independent… I value being and want to be your Pastor, if you will allow me to do so. The only thing I ask is that we all work together (challenging though it may be at times) to love and include all people, regardless of their beliefs, politics, practices, or sexual identity – to fulfill our church’s purpose of “building a Christian community that reflects the love of Jesus.”

In the end, as my scripture at the beginning of this article points out, we all are imperfect, broken humans (i.e., sinners) saved only by God’s free and inclusive grace – a grace that we ALL need (regardless of our sexual identity or practice), and towards which we are all called to claim and live in!  God bless you as you serve Him through our church!

Always remember that God loves you and I do, too!

In Christ,

Brian